The special investigative panel headed by Mr Jim Obazee in the course of undertaking their assignment as directed by Mr President had invited and questioned many senior and mid level officers of the apex bank and flowing from these interactions a lot of discoveries have been made including trails of the proceeds of the massive corruption under Mr Emefiele as Governor of the CBN.
Mr Olatunde Akande
Our source reveals the discovery of 63 fixed deposit accounts owned by one of Mr Godwin Emefiele’s acolytes Mr Olatunde Akande who is presently sitting as the Executive Director Technical at NIRSAL and was a special assistant to the CBN Governor. He superintended over some of the major programmes embarked upon by the CBN under Emefiele including the Anchor borrowers programme ABP, The rice pyramid programme through the rice farmers association of Nigeria RIFAN where billions of naira was given out as loans and yet to be recovered and the recent currency change programme which caused a lot of hardship to ordinary Nigerians.
The Anchor borrowers programme which was intended to support farmers through provision of loans to acquire inputs and others for improved food production was initially being managed through NIRSAL, an organization owned by the Central bank of Nigeria but was grossly mismanaged by the then Managing Director Mr Aliyu Abdulhammid who turned the organization into a family and friends business leading to the programme being transferred back to CBN where the likes of Mr Akande superintended over its eventual collapse.
Nigerians were witnesses to the rice pyramid displayed at the trade fair complex on airport road abuja and was commissioned by President Muhamadu Buhari for sale to Nigerians at affordable prices which according to the information released then was a collaboration between the CBN and RIFAN. The programme was overseen by the same Mr Akande and the rice was never sold to the public as announced but rather it found its way into the open market where it sold at the prevailing prices.
Mr Akande was also central to Mr Emefiele’s currency change programme through which they amassed a lot of money for themselves by trading in the new currency to the detriment of the Nigerian people who are yet to fully recover from the disruption in their lives. Despite the scarcity of the new currency at that time, politicians had them in abundance as Mr Akande had established an efficient network with the commercial banks through which they enriched themselves.
The botched presidential bid of Mr Godwin Emefiele was coordinated by Mr Akande as he personally procured the over 1000 branded cars and buses to be used for the campaign and financed some of the support groups who were promoting his candidature at that time.
Now this same Mr Akande was sent to NIRSAL by Mr Godwin Emefiele to shield him from investigation and to cover all the illegal transactions that was perpetrated at the CBN. He is an Executive Director at NIRSAL and is desperately covering the tracks of all the transactions that points directly to his mentor Mr Godwin Emefiele.
While Nigerians continue to suffer the consequences of the large scale mismanagement of the central bank, we urge Mr President not to relent in ensuring all those who are involved
MUSA ABBA
Coordinator, Farmers Circle
Argungu, Kebbi state.
